“The Lord never wants to subtract from you when you experience trials.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – August 23, 2022
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
Have you ever considered that everything in life is an opportunity?
There is nothing that happens in the life of a believer that is a waste or that cannot be redeemed. Everything we face: life’s biggest questions, biggest trials, disappointments, hurts, disillusionments, and betrayals are opportunities to experience His goodness more deeply, to know our identity in Him more fully, and to experience His faithfulness to us in new profound and fresh ways.
It’s good to remember this so that when tests come into your life you can see them not as punishment, not just as a nuisance, or not as difficulties that you must quickly brush past or release yourself from. Instead, you can choose to see great value in your struggle, and redemption in your trouble. Difficulties are not just things to quickly dispose of, fix, or avoid. They are experiences to learn and deepen through. They are ways that God can bring His light into your life.
The Lord never wants to subtract from you when you experience trials. His desire is always to enlarge you, to help you experience more of who He is, to grow you emotionally, spiritually and in every way and to give you greater courage.
To experience greater abundance and the victorious life God offers, He invites you to stop seeing trouble as something that subtracts from you. Instead, He invites you to see it as something that adds to you, who you are and who you are in Him.
All trouble is an exercise in trust. It’s an opportunity to turn your eyes from the problem to Jesus. It’s an opportunity to make your troubles “shrink” as you focus on the Lord and magnify Him. It’s an opportunity to call out to Him and witness Him work for your benefit and His glory. It’s an opportunity to know His love more deeply and understand the security that comes with being a beloved child, free from fear, free from anxiety, free from worry.
Troubles and trials are blessed opportunities. If you are going through something today, what opportunity is there for you in it? Ask the Lord to give you his perspective and to show you what He wants to teach you.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
Prayer
Lord, help me to always see that you are always working all things for good. There is opportunity in everything! Help me to live with my eyes on your goodness, to focus on you and not on my trial. Help me to magnify you, not my difficulties. Amen.
Application
Sit quietly with Jesus and ask Him to speak to you about your trial. Ask Him to show you what He is teaching you and what He wants you to learn.
Related Reading
Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 5:10; Romans 5:3-5
Worship Resource
Covenant Worship: All Things
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